Chapter 521
: A Walk with Grindelwald
Chapter 521: A Walk with Grindelwald
"Ireland scored the sixth goal...Ireland scored the seventh goal...Yes, cheers, Ireland scored the eighth goal...Ireland is leading by a score of 130:10. Is there still hope for Bulgaria?"
Ludo Bagman's hoarse roar continued to be heard. Barty Crouch Jr. waited in the darkness for more than ten minutes, and finally confirmed with reluctance -
The plan really went wrong. The attempt to use the cursed giant tree to impact the stadium to create chaos and take the opportunity to kidnap Harry Potter was declared a failure.
Little Barty was angry and puzzled as he pondered the reason for his failure.
There was no reason why the Ministry of Magic could discover his perfect plan. Barty Jr. was well aware of those people's perfunctory and lazy work attitude.
Moreover, he went to the forest in the afternoon to confirm that all the giant trees were intact and could be awakened anytime and anywhere.
Was there something wrong with the spell I used to wake him up? Or was there some kind of protective spell cast near the gymnasium, preventing the trees in the forest from receiving the signal from here?
The worst case scenario is that Dumbledore discovered the problem... but such a short time should not be enough for him to remove all the spells!
And it is impossible for Dumbledore to have too many helpers, because when they were in the box, Barty discovered that Dumbledore's followers were staring at the Death Eaters whose identities had been exposed.
Including the box where Barty Jr. had been before, several people from the Weasley family had been paying attention to the Malfoy family intentionally or unintentionally. Their eyes were by no means kind, nor were they simply disgusted.
That wariness and vague caution... It was like an Auror watching a Dark wizard preparing to make a deal.
Little Barty's heart moved slightly.
——Could it be that the traitors wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to do something, but were discovered by Dumbledore's people in advance?
If that's the case...it's an opportunity...
As Little Batty was thinking, he glanced coldly at the box door behind him, turned around and went down the stairs.
He first needed to confirm what had happened to the giant trees that he had worked so hard to awaken.
Ten minutes later, little Batty stood at the edge of the forest, looking at the huge wound on the ground. His face was pale, his whole body was trembling, his heart was burning with anger, and he couldn't stop feeling fear.
He tightened his invisibility cloak, carefully avoided the few pieces of tree root debris that were still burning, bypassed the dark swamp created by magic, and walked forward along the fan-shaped charred marks.
The ash under my feet was thick and soft. I could hardly feel any resistance when my feet stepped on it, and the uppers of my shoes were already buried in the dust.
There were no trees, no weeds, and no insects crawling around. There was only a vast expanse of white ash that was still slowly falling.
Barty Crouch Jr. squatted down, brushed away a piece of ash with his palm, and found that there were traces of glassy enamel on the ground below, which made him feel even colder.
Who is it?
What kind of magic is this?
Could it be Dumbledore...
Little Barty shook his head.
This was not Dumbledore's style, and he was unwilling to believe this possibility.
Then, Barty thought of another dark wizard who was as famous as Dumbledore - Grindelwald.
Although that old man has never been active in the UK, but...what if?
A scene emerged in Barty's mind: Grindelwald Apparated to the camp, whether he wanted to watch the game or do something, when suddenly a group of giant trees rumbled towards him from the forest.
Grindelwald naturally took this as an attack and provocation against him, and immediately used an extremely powerful magic to burn the entire forest to the ground, and then left.
If this was done by Grindelwald... then Grindelwald's power is far beyond his master's estimation.
But a dark wizard who is about to die of old age is better to deal with than an unknown enemy. Moreover, Grindelwald's body may not be able to withstand such magic, and he may have returned to his lair to recuperate. Little Barty pondered: If his guess is true, then the plan to kidnap Harry Potter still has a chance of success...
The wizard left the forest, erasing all traces of his presence.
An invisible breeze blew up the ashes on the ground, and when they fell again, they completely covered the footprints of someone.
……
After the witches Apparated away from the camp, Grindelwald stayed behind.
"Wade, take a walk with me?" he said.
Delain and Antoine understood what he meant, and they slowed down and distanced themselves from each other. Wade also heard Antoine yelling that he wanted to watch the game.
Afterwards, the old and the young walked side by side in the camp.
Although it was very dark at night, there were lanterns of various sizes hanging on both sides of the road, which made the shadows of the two people lengthen and shorten.
"Tell me, Vader," Grindelwald said calmly, "How did you feel after you successfully cast that spell?"
Vader was silent for a moment, then said, "...I think I understand why pride is the first of the seven deadly sins."
Possessing the power to subvert order makes it difficult not to become arrogant and blind, viewing others as tools or even grass, and rationalizing the plunder, bullying, and oppression that comes from one's own as the law of "survival of the fittest."
Grindelwald sneered when he heard this.
"Child, I don't deny that Dumbledore taught you a lot of useful things, but you were inevitably infected with some ridiculous shortcomings from him."
"You're too passive, Vider Grey!"
"Whether there is war or not, this world is a cruel battlefield, and life-and-death battles are everywhere! Perhaps fear does not equal strength, but——"
"You restrain your own strength, fear your own ambition, and dare not take power?"
"You know what this is called? It's stupid self-deception! Hypocrisy, childishness, and indecision!"
"You even believe that a group of idiots can maintain world peace, and fantasize that the corrupt and incompetent Ministry of Magic can bring fairness and justice, and are unwilling to make more correct decisions!"
"Why would you tolerate a bunch of clowns stepping on your head when you can just wave your wand and make your enemies disappear from the face of the earth?"
Wade originally lowered his head and listened to the lecture, feeling vaguely touched in his heart, but the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He felt that the person Grindelwald was scolding was not him... at least not just him.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat and his throat tightened a little - could it be that Dumbledore was right next to him?
Wade subconsciously looked around, but only saw tents of different heights.
"You must remember—"
Grindelwald suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at Wade, and said in a deep voice: "Silence can be a strategy, but it can never be a habit! Otherwise, even if you have the strongest power in the world, you are nothing more than a clay doll in shackles, controlled by others!"
He stared into Wade's eyes, and his gaze flickered and seemed to look elsewhere.
"You know what I expect of you, Vader, but mark my words - do not let your morals become a shroud for your companions!"
(End of this chapter)